FIRST LOOK Frauds

A first look at Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker playing skilled confidence tricksters in ITV1's new heist drama.

ITV1 has today released a number of first look photos from their upcoming six-part heist drama, Frauds, which stars Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker as skilled confidence tricksters who’ve been separated by an arduous 10-year prison sentence.

Jodie Whittaker plays Sam, who has been content to live a life of quiet anonymity in the hills of Southern Spain, whilst her grifting partner, Bert, played by Suranne Jones has spent the last decade in a Spanish prison cell with a burning desire to pull off one final job that will prove her worth.

Frauds has been created by Suranne Jones and Anne-Marie O’Connor and is written by Anne-Marie O’Connor.

We pick up the story as Sam anxiously waits for Bert to be released from a maximum-security prison on grounds of compassionate discharge. Frail and facing her final days, following a cancer diagnosis, Bert’s mindset is as it’s always been, to take risks and live life on the edge.

Set in the picturesque mountainous region of Southern Spain, it’s apparent from the outset that Sam and Bert have unresolved issues of the thieving kind.

Locked into a pattern of fierce friendship coupled with deep mistrust, that goes back many years, Bert apparently has no one else to turn to in the final weeks of her life. And we sense this isn’t going to be an easy ride for Sam, who is clearly burying feelings of guilt, and a past she’d rather stay forgotten.

Pricked by those feelings, she reluctantly agrees to give her ailing former friend a bed in the idyllic smallholding she calls a home. Despite trying to keep Bert at a distance, she is immediately pulled back into their complex and addictive relationship.

On the pretext of one final, multi-million-pound art heist, Bert attempts to lure Sam out of retirement, but at what cost? Can Sam stay one step ahead of her former friend, who is clearly capable of treachery? Or will the push and pull of their toxic friendship see them both ruined before they are able to pull off the job and escape one another for good?

Starring alonside Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker are Talisa García as Miss Take, a smart, funny, and acerbic Spanish trans woman in her fifties who hosts drag bingo at the club on the Costa del Sol. Miss Take doesn't see the club or drag as her salvation, it’s something that served her once and has now become the thing that is holding her back in life. She wants more. And Bert and Sam, despite their thorny history, might just be able to offer her that.

Elizabeth Berrington stars as Jackie Diamond, a sharp-witted and sharp-mouthed magician’s assistant to her husband The Great Diavolo. But it’s Jackie who is the real talent, the master illusionist who invents their tricks and puts together all their elaborate shows and who met Bert and Sam years ago when they were petty criminals. When they come back into her life, she’ll be left questioning whether she really is happy in the wings or whether there’s still time to take centre stage.

Christian Cooke takes the role of Deegs, a Bradford money lender who tracks Bilal to Spain, creating conflict with Bert and Sam and Nansi Nsue as Amaya, a determined Spanish cop and working mum investigating a bizarre series of thefts.

Elsewhere, Lee Boardman takes on the role of Jackie’s husband, Craig, a gaslighting, narcissistic mid level magician, Abdul Salis plays Mateo, a kind man, considered he is Miss Take’s husband and greatest champion, Karan Gill stars as Bilal, an idiosyncratic Bradford loner with an unusual secret, he’s the world’s greatest forger. Bilal is the key to them pulling off the greatest art heist of the century, but might also be their downfall.

Thais Martin stars as Caitlin, Sam’s long-lost daughter, a petty criminal with her eye on the prize who is not going to let Sam’s wish to take care of her trump her need to get in on the heist of the decade.

Kate Fleetwood takes on the role of Celine, a no-nonsense East London ex-pat art dealer with a children’s soft play centre as a front for her dealings. She has her own moral compass, and it’s one Bert and Sam will need to be wary of.

Javier Taboada stars as Blas, a charismatic Spanish prison guard who had a relationship of sorts with Bert while she was inside. Blas has plenty of charisma, and he’s not afraid to use it to get what he wants. What makes him dangerous and untrustworthy also makes him the ideal candidate to help Bert and Sam.

Made by Monumental Television in association with ITV Studios, Frauds is a co-production with TeamAkers, the production company founded by Suranne Jones and Laurence Akers. It's been directed by Giulia Gandini and produced by Pat Tookey-Dickson.

Frauds is executive produced by Alison Owen and Katie Kelly on behalf of Monumental Television alongside Debra Hayward, Alison Carpenter, Jill Forbes and Pat Tookey-Dickson for Monumental Television and co-creator Anne-Marie O’Connor and Suranne Jones on behalf of TeamAkers.

Frauds will air later this year on ITV1